It’s Blockchain & Biometrics Making Mobile Driver’s Licenses Possible

Find out how mobile driver’s licenses work and how the state of Delaware, and other governments and partners, are developing mDL services close to launch.

SYDNEY — The state of New South Wales, Australia, has gone a step beyond most governments exploring mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) with an impending statewide roll-out of digital identification via its Service NSW app made possible by blockchain.

How Mobile Driver’s Licenses Work

After making legislative changes to allow mobile driver’s licenses to be used for driving and proof of age for things like purchase of alcohol, the Australian state rolled out the ability to renew a driver’s license via its smartphone app in late 2016.

The Service NSW app shows the animated license in real time with notifications — like suspensions — at the bottom. The app also disables a smartphone’s screenshot feature and generates an official bar code every 30 seconds. The mDLs are also animated — so it cannot be copied and used as a still image and accepted by a scanner checking against the system.

Both police and service retailers could verify mDLs with current verification technologies, though concerns about privacy and use across state lines have been asked.

Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Iowa, told NBC News MACH in May that the organization had “serious concerns” about mDLs. He noted that smartphones are legally protected against unauthorized police searches.

According to a 2015 article on Delaware Online, vendor MorphoTrust was working on a feature that locks the motorist’s smartphone once the mobile driver’s license is on screen preventing officers from accessing other device content while simply checking a license.

Delaware On The mDL Track

Delaware announced it would conduct a mobile drivers license pilot with 200 state employees and stakeholders in March, according to the state website.

• Enhanced privacy for age verification – no need to show a person’s address, license number and birth date, the mDL will verify if the person is over 18 or 21 and display a photo.
• Law enforcement use during a traffic stop – the mDL will allow law enforcement officers to ping a driver’s smartphone to request their driver’s license information prior to walking to the vehicle.
• Business acceptance – understanding how businesses that require identification or age verification interact with the mDL will be advantageous throughout pilot.
• Ease of Use – ensuring the mDL is able to be presented to any organization without difficulty.
• Secure access – the mDL is only unlocked and accessible by the mDL holder. The mDL is accessed through an app on the owner’s smartphone and is opened/unlocked by entering a user-created pin number or using facial recognition.

IDEMIA uses blockchain and biometrics technologies to secure personal information and identity attributes — like retinal scans and social security numbers for all its Mobile ID services — including mDLs. This video explains the intake process for general mobile identity into MorphoTrust:

Not technically a mobile driver’s license, but a legal copy, the state of Louisiana has recently has rolled out an app that can display an existing physical driver’s license electronically for $5.99. But the electronic version “is not necessarily valid outside traffic stops or checkpoints, meaning law enforcement officers and private businesses (like your friendly neighborhood bartender or bouncer) may demand a physical ID,” according to The Advocate.

Just like New South Wales, prior to the Delaware mDL pilot, the state rolled out oneline driver’s license renewal:

It is exciting for us to be one of the first states to test this innovative technology that can both protect the privacy of our customers and enhance safety in ways that can’t be achieved with a traditional driver license or identification card,” said Scott Vien, director of the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, in the state announcement.

To learn more about how mDLs would work, watch the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators’ Mobile DL Operational Proof-of-Concept video:

The era of standing in line to file government paperwork is coming to an end, as is our reliance on physical identification cards to establish your identity or proof of age with law enforcement or at licensed venues. These are mistake prone, time-consuming, expensive and impractical ways to offer services,” Devaraj said

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